Pushcat

As for somebody who doesn't really play arcade puzzlers, this was challenging but not too hard. Even if it took far too many hours to finish. I would say its biggest downside is the grid/block based movement which started to feel worse and worse the more I progressed, you have to react fast in some levels so it became my downfall often enough. 6/10. Follow my Steam Curator for more: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43514354/

I was a big fan of the C64 Boulder Dash games way back in the day, and while Pushcat has figured out a way to put an interesting twist on that style of game, I think it puts emphasis on the wrong things. Most notably, there's a significant element of randomness to the majority of levels, whether it's random gem layouts or random block spawners, PushCat leans far more into its Match-3 elements rather than being a tightly-designed puzzle game. The subsequent effect is that the levels all feel very 'samey', in that they tend to ultimately boil down to shifting a large pile of gems and rocks around, pushing rocks into the gutter and matching gems so that you can pick them up. If the level features infinite spawners, the gem target is obnoxiously large and tedious. If the level features a finite-but-RNG amount of gems, the gem target tends to be underwhelming and doesn't promote careful thought-out play. It's only the handful of fixed-layout levels that are actually any good. Which is a shame because I think there are a lot of cool ideas here that I would want to see put into a really tightly-packed puzzle game, but this isn't it.

fun little puzzle game

I had a lot of fun playing this game. It starts off fairly basic and easy, but the difficulty ramps up in a satisfying way. It has a bunch of different types of levels that all require different skillsets to complete. Some require you to plan your moves in advance, some require speed, some require awareness of your surroundings. I highly recommend this game.

Shopworn Match 3 mechanics receive a new lease on life in [i]Pushcat[/i], a cheery [i]Boulder Dash[/i] derivative brimming with attractive pixel art and goofy dialogue. Players assist the indomitable title character as he travels through various worlds in search of gems which yield smiling silver coins. When three or more gems of the same colour are matched horizontally or vertically they transform into the coins, much to the delight of the covetous cat. After a set number of coins are collected, Pushcat can escape through the catflap and proceed to the next area. Although Pushcat can become trapped or reduced to ashes by exploding Aztec Death-heads and have no choice but to restart the level, he never needs to worry about being crushed from above by falling blocks; this element makes the gameplay far less tedious than that of many [i]Boulder Dash[/i] imitators. Most levels require some degree of planning, but every once in a while there are more freeform, endurance-focused trials where Pushcat simply needs to stay alive while pocketing a larger number of coins. [i]Pushcat[/i] boasts numerous chiptune renditions of notable ragtime and classical pieces (The list of featured wo…

I bought Boulderdash & another Boulderdash style game. I also downloaded a few free ones. BY FAR, this is the best of them all. I hope more levels are on the way, because this can not be the last of a game that plays this well.